The thought that murders the wish that fathered it will be overtaken by the revenge of stupidity

Everything about art has become problematic; its inner life, its relation to society, even its right to exist.

The specific is not exclusive: it lacks the aspiration to totality.

There is no love that is not an echo.

Insane sects grow with the same rhythm as big organizations. It is the rhythm of total destruction.

They [the critics] deal with Schoenberg's early works and all their wealth by classifying them, with the music-historical cliché, as late romantic post-Wagnerian. One might just as well dispose of Beethoven as a late-classicist post-Haydnerian.

The gods look in pleasure on penitent sinners.